Points to see in DeKalb, the barbed wire capital

Displayed in a museum in DeKalb, a lively university town tucked into the cornfields of northern Illinois, is a poster featuring singing cowboy Gene Autry. It might seem incongruous, but it really is not surprising, considering it advertises the 1952 oater "Barbed Wire."

It is displayed in the Ellwood House Museum, opulent former home of Isaac L. Ellwood, a "barbed wire baron" who made a fortune manufacturing the product that fenced in the American West.

It was in DeKalb during the winter of 1872-73 that farm wife Lucinda Glidden noticed that her large wire hairpins were vanishing from a glass dish on her dresser. She was mystified until one evening she noticed her husband, Joseph F. Glidden, take two of the hairpins from his shirt pocket. He explained that he was working on an idea for a fence.

The farmer continued his experiments, eventually creating a machine from an old coffee mill to produce small, uniform-sized barbed coils. The result was the invention of a practical barbed wire, patented on Nov. 24, 1874.

Meanwhile, Isaac Ellwood, who owned a hardware store in DeKalb, also had been tinkering with fencing. In 1874, he abandoned his experiments and purchased for $265 a half-interest in Glidden's barbed wire patent. The two formed a partnership and established the world's first barbed wire factory. In 1876, Glidden sold the remaining interest in his patent to a large wire manufacturer for $60,000 plus royalty rights.

By 1879, the fledgling industry was producing 50 million pounds of barbed wire annually. Ellwood became one of the wealthiest men in Illinois as he parlayed his modest initial investment into a personal fortune.

You can take an hour-long guided tour of the 1879 palatial mansion furnished as it was when the Ellwood family lived there. Admire its gleaming antique woodwork and glittering gilt mirrors. Visit the great English living room with its vast stone fireplace and admire the magnificent rotunda served by a three-story spiral staircase.

View the mahogany-paneled dining room, setting for countless formal dinner parties, where guests included Theodore Roosevelt and Jane Addams. An airy sunroom, added in a 1911 remodeling, follows the Arts and Crafts style. Featuring natural brick walls, tile floor and natural oak woodwork, it contrasts dramatically with the heavy dining room.

A Visitor Center offers free admission to "Fencing Frontiers," a comprehensive survey of barbed wire history. Galleries feature traveling shows (such as an exhibition of paintings of prairie flowers that runs through Dec. 16).

Another tribute to DeKalb's position as America's "Barbed Wire Capital" is the ongoing restoration of the Joseph F. Glidden Homestead & Historical Center. A busy calendar of events, running April through December, includes Sunday house tours with Music on the Porch. An exhibition chronicles the history of barbed wire, while a series of Library of Congress photographs shows the cultural history of the invention, spanning its agricultural, military, political and economic impact on society.

As home of Northern Illinois University, DeKalb is a high-spirited town, subject to frequent outbreaks of Huskie fever. On a leafy campus where about 25,000 students seek higher education, the NIU Art Museum presents traveling exhibits that include sculpture, paintings and photography. Tour Altgeld Hall, completed in 1889 and known as the "Castle on the Hill." This gray building with turrets and gargoyles might look perfectly at home in England.

DeKalb's compact downtown is in the throes of tuckpointing, painting and other revitalization as entrepreneurs put historic storefronts into trendy adaptive use as restaurants and boutiques. A "shabby chic" movement is converting odd spaces into interesting places -- such as Alley Jax, a French-themed boutique that is more than a block long but little more than 10 feet wide. Moxie, created in a former department store, is stocked with a quirky, unpredictable inventory ranging from vintage and new clothing to baby gifts and kitchen gadgets.

Interesting eateries include O'Leary's Irish pub and a soon-to-be-opened Italian trattoria with the romantic-sounding name Filo Spinato (actually, it's Italian for barbed wire). Near the athletic stadium, Huskie fever is rampant at Fatty's Pub & Grille, where spicy Cajun fried potato salad is a delicious side to the inevitable burgers and has patrons guessing its ingredients. Foodies absolutely won't want to miss Inboden's Meats, an improbable combination of old-time butcher (its brats won the Grand Championship for Illinois) and trendy gourmet food mart.

In downtown Sycamore, one of the prettiest cities in Illinois, Taxco offers authentic Mexican cuisine and houses a tequila bar with 325 different kinds (with bottles priced as high as $1,000). Find comfortable accommodations at Sycamore's 39-room Stratford Inn, incorporating the mansion of Sycamore's first mayor, Reuben Ellwood.

There's plenty of colorful history in and around DeKalb, and also plenty of fun. The two share the spotlight at the 1929 Egyptian Theatre, a restored vaudeville house that screens classic movies, stages concerts (and has a haunted house Oct. 26-31).

Seasonal stops include the Jonamac Orchard at Malta, where warm doughnuts made with apple cider and apple butter are worth the journey. This popular U-pick apple orchard has a giant corn maze with a Huskie theme.

The Sycamore Pumpkin Festival (Oct. 24-28) includes a parade, pie-eating contest, pancake breakfast, pig-roast luncheon and a kiddie carnival. It attracts more than 100,000 visitors and displays hundreds of creatively carved pumpkins on the courthouse lawns.

If you go

Information: DeKalb Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, (815) 756-1336, (877) 335-2521, www.dekalbareacvb.com; Illinois Tourism, (800) 226-6632.

Mileage: DeKalb is about 65 miles west of Chicago.

Mike Michaelson is a travel writer based in Chicago and the author of the uidebook"Chicago's Best-Kept Secrets."